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Tigersharks swim team wins division championship

The Cuyahoga Falls Riverfront YMCA Tigersharks beat six other swim teams from throughout the region to capture the 2013 Northeast Ohio YMCA Division 2 Champion title.

After a tough dual-meet loss to the Ridgewood YMCA swim team in North Royalton earlier in the season, the Tigersharks outscored the second-place Dolphins 3,275.5 to 2,949.5 to win the division championship Feb. 2 at the University of Akron Ocasek Natatorium.

“We had over 120 personal bests, which was a good start to the championship portion of our season,” Tigershark head coach Dale Craddock said.

The 11-12 girls led the way with outstanding relay performances, capturing first and second in both the 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relay events.

In an exciting 200 freestyle relay race, Lily Lewis of Cuyahoga Falls, Chloe Stratton of Silver Lake, Marissa Bowers of Cuyahoga Falls and Emerson Zahab of Akron out touched the Tigershark relay team of Jessica Fontanez of Akron, Eryn Haas of Stow, Giovanna Cappabianca of Stow and Katie Rozsa of Silver Lake by just four hundredths of a second to take first.

In the individual races, Zahab won both her events: the 11-12 girls 50 butterfly (29.39) and 100 freestyle (58.40). Rozsa also had a pair of first-place finishes for the 11-12 girls in the 50 freestyle (27.70) and 50 backstroke (32.06).

Kaden Smesko of Green won the 50 backstroke for the 10-and-under boys (32.04), as well as the 50 butterfly (31.56).

Maggie Haas of Hudson had a pair of personal records in the 13-14 girls 100 butterfly (1:04.63) and 100 backstroke (1:04.39) to win both races. Fellow Hudson resident Brittan Ham also had impressive performances, capturing first in the 13-14 girls 200 individual medley (IM) by dropping 8.44 seconds for a time of 2:31.02. Ham also had a personal best in the 100 breaststroke (1:18.02) to win the event.

Continuing the strong showing for the 13-14 girls, Marissa Kassinger of Silver Lake won the 50 freestyle (26.55) and the 100 freestyle (59.26).

Richie Kurlich of Kent finished first in the 11-12 boys 100 IM (1:04.75) and won the 100 freestyle with a personal and team record time of 56.91 seconds.

The Lewis sisters from Cuyahoga Falls had a good meet, with Lily winning the 11-12 girls 200 freestyle (2:13.53) and Evie finishing first in the 10-and-under girls 100 freestyle by dropping 1.09 seconds (1:12.35).

The Cappabiancas from Stow once again dominated in the pool. Giovanna won the 11-12 girls 100 IM (1:04.96) and 50 breaststroke (32.45), and her brother, Vittorio, finished first among 8-and-under boys in the 50 freestyle (33.85) and second in the 25 butterfly (17.58).

Carrie Caniglia of Hudson swam personal record times in the 25 butterfly (16.26) and 50 freestyle (31.68) to finish first among 8-and-under girls in both events. Mia Nagle of Copley also earned a victory for the 8-and-under girls with a personal best 20.63 seconds in the 25 breaststroke.

Jordan Ito of Hudson finished first in the 8-and-under boys 25 freestyle with a personal best time of 17.19 seconds, while Jack Kramer of Cuyahoga Falls won the 11-12 boys 50 breaststroke with his best time of 33.56 seconds.

Other Tigersharks who finished first in individual races at the division championship meet include Mia Iverson of Stow in the 10-and-under girls freestyle (33.84), Braden Nold of Cuyahoga Falls in the 13-14 boys 100 backstroke (1:00.32) and Andrew Rohweder, who dropped 4.62 seconds in the 13-14 boys 500 freestyle (5:51.78).

The team now is preparing to defend its Northeast Ohio YMCA League Champion title on March 2 at Cleveland State University.

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